Pentagon Whispers; Milbloggers Zip Their Lips

Some military commands are busy shouting about how the press — and its own soldier-bloggers — are "threats" for leaking vital battlefield information. Let ’em scream, DJ Elliot, a former Navy intelligence analyst, says over at The Fourth Rail. The Pentagon’s own public affairs officers are some of the worst violators of operational security (OPSEC) of all.

I get more advance notice from a Pentagon Press Brief of US movements from Kuwait into Iraq than I get from all other sources combined. The Pentagon acts as if it is not at war, and the leaks emanating from Arlington are enormous…

Multinational Division-North: Shoot your Air Force photographers as enemy spies.
Their captions include names, platoon level unit IDs and activities, and are released within 24-48 hours of event…

[On the other hand,] despite the worries by the hierarchy, I have seen only five valid OPSEC violations in two years from Military Bloggers concerning
ISF/Coalition forces (only 1 in the last year). MilBloggers tend to lose unit
IDs and details in their writings in a way that PAOs [public affairs officers] should study and learn from.

Milblogger Dadmanly has more. CNN has a dispatch from last weekend’s milblogging conference. And Secrecy News’ Steven Aftergood tells an Army bureaucrat to take a hike, after she tells him to pull the Army’s new OPSEC rules off of his site.

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